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Trevor Plouffe

Twins Place Trevor Plouffe On DL

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The Twins have placed third baseman Trevor Plouffe on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to Wednesday, with a left oblique strain, the team announced. It’s unknown if Plouffe will return this year, but given the limited amount of games left, the Twins’ last-place status, and the length of time it takes to recover from oblique injuries, a 2016 comeback seems unlikely.

If Plouffe’s season is over, it’s possible his tenure with the Twins is, too. As MLBTR’s Steve Adams wrote Wednesday, the Twins have a glut of other options in the infield and outfield, which could make Plouffe a non-tender or trade candidate during the offseason.

Plouffe, 30, has endured his worst season since he started garnering significant playing time in 2011, having batted .260/.303/.420 in 344 plate appearances and accounted for one of the majors’ worst fWAR totals (minus-0.4). Nevertheless, he’ll still receive a raise over this year’s $7.25MM salary in his first trip through arbitration during the winter. It’s conceivable neither Minnesota nor anyone else will want to pay Plouffe in the neighborhood of $8MM off such a poor season, which could lead the Twins to cut bait.

Regardless of what the future holds for Plouffe, this has been a year to forget for a player who had been a steady contributor in recent seasons. Aside from his subpar numbers and current oblique issue, he was on the shelf for nearly three weeks from April to May with an intercostal strain – something he’s also dealing with now – and missed time in July with a cracked rib.

Poll: Trevor Plouffe’s Future In Minnesota

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Twins corner infielder/designated hitter Trevor Plouffe exited last night’s game with an oblique injury, and tests have revealed the 30-year-old to have both an oblique strain and an intercostal strain, as MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger tweets. Plouffe hopes to return before the end of the season, but Bollinger notes that it’s unlikely that Plouffe will have enough time to recover. Oblique injuries tend to linger for at least a month, and with a pair of strains, it seems quite possible that what has been an injury-riddled season for Plouffe will come to a close.

The greater question that should be asked, at this juncture, is whether Plouffe has played his final game as a member of the Twins. The former first-round pick (20th overall, 2004) was an oft-speculated trade candidate last winter thanks to the emergence of Miguel Sano and the signing of Korean slugger Byung Ho Park, but the Twins elected to hang onto Plouffe and try Sano in right field — an experiment that yielded dreadful results. The 6’4″, 260-pound Sano perhaps unsurprisingly graded out very poorly in right field (-8 DRS, -2.6 UZR in 312 innings) and was ultimately moved back to third base when Plouffe suffered a fractured rib that cost him six months of the season.

With Sano now seeing reps at third base and DH, Plouffe has rotated between third base (when Sano is DHing), first base and DH himself since returning from the disabled list. However, next season will present the Twins — who will be headed by a new front office regime — with a similar logjam, as Sano, Plouffe, Park and Joe Mauer will all be back in the mix. (For those wondering about the possibility, Mauer cannot return to catching given his concussion history.) With Byron Buxton, Max Kepler and Eddie Rosario likely handling regular outfield duties in 2017, there’s no obvious corner opening to move one of those pieces this time around.

Further complicating matters for Plouffe is that he’s endured his worst season since 2013. In addition to the current pair of muscle strains and the aforementioned rib fracture, Plouffe also missed nearly three weeks in late April/early May with another intercostal strain. Plouffe established himself as an average defender with a slightly above-average bat in 2014-15 when he hit .251/.317/.429 with 36 homers in 1214 plate appearances — good for a combined 5.9 fWAR and 6.5 rWAR. However, he was hitting just .252/.283/.399 at the time he landed on the DL in July due to the rib fracture. Plouffe has been hot since coming back (.277/.345/.465, five homers in 26 games), which has boosted his overall line to .260/.303/.420, but much of the 2016 season has been a struggle for him at the plate.

Plouffe will be arbitration-eligible for the final time this winter, and though he’s been slowed by injuries and hasn’t had his most productive year, he’ll still receive a raise this year’s $7.25MM salary. A salary in the $8-9MM range isn’t outlandish for a healthy Plouffe, but it may also be more than the Twins wish to pay him given the state of their roster, as currently constructed. Certainly, Plouffe could garner trade interest from clubs looking for short-term upgrades at the corner infield spots, though there’s also the possibility that a new president of baseball operations decides to cut bait simply by non-tendering him. Alternatively, the Twins could elect to move other pieces and keep Plouffe around for what will be his final season before hitting the free agent market.

With a number of avenues that the new-look front office could pursue, let’s open this one up for some crowd-sourcing (link to poll for Trade Rumors mobile app users)…

Trevor Plouffe To 15-Day DL With “Cracked Rib”

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10:28am: Minnesota skipper Paul Molitor says he’s expecting Plouffe to miss something on the order of three or four weeks, Bollinger tweets. That would seem likely to take him off the trade table, though an August deal could be possible given his reasonably steep salary.

9:32am: Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe has been placed on the 15-day DL with a “cracked rib,” MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger reports on Twitter. Slugger Kennys Vargas will return to the majors to take his place on the active roster.

[Related: Updated Twins Depth Chart]

Plouffe had been dealing with some rib soreness, with some concern that a DL stint may be required. While it’s a bit difficult to assess the severity of the injury at this point in time, it seems that it could be more significant than had been hoped.

Minnesota has resisted trading Plouffe in the past, but it seemed that this summer might present an opportunity to make a move — particularly with Miguel Sano failing to take to right field after shifting off of the hot corner. Now, though, he may not be a viable candidate to move in the coming weeks.

Despite taking him out of immediate trade contention, the injury could actually help pave the way for an eventual deal, at least in theory. Sano ought to have a chance to cement himself at third, which would seemingly make Plouffe extraneous. Of course, that had seemed to be a reasonable line of thinking last winter, too.

Plouffe is owed $7.25MM this year and can be controlled for another campaign via arbitration, which had made him a worthwhile target for teams looking to plug a gap now and in 2017. He has typically presented as a solid all-around player with twenty homer pop, but this year has been a struggle. Plouffe owns a .252/.283/.399 bating line with seven home runs over 231 plate appearances for the season.

Cafardo’s Latest: Gray, A’s, Giants, Twins, Pads

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Athletics executive vice president of baseball operations Billy Beane is elite at maximizing players’ values, opines the Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo, who writes that Beane is in prime position to shine as this year’s trade deadline approaches. The last-place A’s, who are likely to sell, have appealing trade chips like outfielder Josh Reddick, starter Rich Hill and relievers Ryan Madson, Sean Doolittle and John Axford. None will be as intriguing as 26-year-old right-hander Sonny Gray if the A’s put him on the block, though. The A’s are unsure about whether to make Gray available, per Cafardo, who reports that double-digit scouts from contenders take in each of his starts.

More rumblings from Cafardo:

  • The Giants are aggressively shopping for relief help and a middle-of-the-order hitter to fill the void left by the injured Hunter Pence. Bullpen possibilities include Twins righty Kevin Jepsen and southpaw Fernando Abad, both of whom the Giants have recently scouted. As far as the outfield goes, any of Ryan Braun – whom the Giants have discussed with Milwaukee – struggling Padre Matt Kemp or free agent Carl Crawford could end up in San Francisco. Kemp has recovered at the plate from a nightmarish May this month, but he remains a defensive liability who’s owed $21.5MM annually through 2019.
  • Jepsen and Abad aren’t the only Twins who might change uniforms this summer. Third baseman Trevor Plouffe and infielder Eduardo Nunez could also pique contenders’ interest. Nunez is surprisingly excelling this year, hitting .318/.348/.485 with nine home runs and 16 steals – the fifth-highest total in the majors – through 249 plate appearances. He’s on a mere $1.48MM salary this season and is scheduled to make one more trip through arbitration.
  • The Red Sox, Royals and Blue Jays are potential landing spots for Padres center fielder Jon Jay, who’s batting a solid .299/.345/.410 through his first 287 PAs of a contract year. Jay, 31, is earning $6.23MM this season.
  • With Colorado having designated him for assignment Wednesday, 33-year-old shortstop Jose Reyes will soon be looking for a new home, and the scuffling White Sox are a team to watch. Chicago already released one veteran shortstop, Jimmy Rollins, earlier this week. His replacement, 22-year-old prospect Tim Anderson, has gone 9 of 34 with four extra-base hits, nine strikeouts and no walks.

Quick Hits: Plouffe, Fernandez, Hunter, Cuddyer, BoSox

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Here’s the latest from around baseball as we head into the new week…

  • Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe will be out of action for at least a couple of days after suffering a right intercostal muscle strain during Sunday’s game.  Plouffe hurt himself during a swing in the sixth inning but remained in the extra-inning contest until he appeared to aggravate the injury while running the bases at the end of the 10th.  While Plouffe doesn’t think the injury is too serious, manager Paul Molitor told reporters (including Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press) that Plouffe will be held out of action and re-evaluated after a couple of games to see if he can avoid a DL stint.  The third baseman entered Sunday’s game hitting .256/.275/.487 in 40 plate appearances.
  • Cuban second baseman Jose Miguel Fernandez will participate in an open showcase for “likely hundreds of scouts” on May 2 and 3, Baseball America’s Ben Badler reports.  Fernandez was declared a free agent earlier this month and isn’t subject to international bonus pool limits due to his age (28 next week) and eight seasons of experience in Cuba’s Serie Nacional.  Badler’s piece also contains a new video of a Fernandez workout, and Badler observes that the second baseman has lost quite a bit of weight.  This is perhaps an indication that Fernandez has been working out to get into game shape given that he has been sidelined for almost 18 months due to a suspension for a previous attempt to escape Cuba and then his successful departure from the country.
  • The Twins’ 3-9 record and the slow starts from some young stars could be attributed to Torii Hunter’s retirement, an AL scout tells TodaysKnuckleball.com’s John Perrotto.  “You see some of their kids like Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano and they’re really talented but they’ve been trying to do way too much at the plate….That’s where they miss Torii,” the scout said.  “He has that great personality where he keeps everything loose but he also had such a great track record that he could talk to those kids, calm them down, and they knew that he knew what he was talking about.  Sometimes you need to hear things from a fellow teammate rather than a manager or coach.  It just carries more clout.”  While Hunter didn’t contribute much on the field in 2015 (0.5 fWAR), his clubhouse leadership was widely considered to be a factor in Minnesota’s surprising 83-79 record.
  • Michael Cuddyer is enjoying his post-playing life, the retired outfielder tells Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, as he relishes spending time with his kids and getting to watch baseball simply as a fan for the first time in decades.  Cuddyer rather surprisingly retired in December, receiving a buyout of around $2MM-$3MM on the $12.5MM he was owed in the final year of his contract with the Mets.  “Usually when I get to the end of the season, I’m pretty beat up, but I still love the game, still love playing,” Cuddyer said. “This time, that was gone. And I didn’t want to hang on if I didn’t love it.”
  • If the Red Sox rotation continues to struggle, Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald suggests some fixes to get the staff on track later in the season.  These include internal solutions (Eduardo Rodriguez making a strong return from the DL, or Henry Owens or Brian Johnson stepping up to deliver solid innings) or possible trade answers, though acquiring a top-tier arm could be difficult.  Rival teams asked for the likes of Xander Bogaerts or Mookie Betts when the Sox asked about pitching over the winter, and Boston isn’t too keen on trading even less-established young talent after already unloading several prospects in the Craig Kimbrel deal.

AL Notes: Vogt, Fister, White Sox, Moustakas, Plouffe, Royals

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Athletics catcher Stephen Vogt will likey miss four to six weeks after elbow surgery, MLB.com’s Jan Lee tweets. He is still expected to be good to go for the start of the season, though he’ll be delayed in getting going this spring.

Here are a few more notes from around the American League:

  • Doug Fister’s MRI with the Astros did not gum up the deal, but nevertheless showed some cause for concern, Houston GM Jeff Luhnow said today on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM (Twitter links). “There is some risk, but we’re confident he’s going to be healthy this year,” said Luhnow.
  • White Sox GM Rick Hahn made clear today that the team feels urgency to win, as Bruce Levine of 670thescore.com reports. Hahn acknowledged frustration that “we haven’t been able to convert on any [free agent] targets,” as CSNChicago.com’s Dan Hayes reports, but told fans that “there still is the possibility we are going to have changes before camp or Opening Day.”
  • Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas says that his representatives have talked to the club about a two-year contract arrangement, MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan reports on Twitter. “I think it’s extremely important ,” he said. “We are blessed with some very unique, special talent on this roster right now.”
  • Coming into the winter, Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe seemed a plausible trade piece, but we never heard much buzz on that front. Minnesota GM Terry Ryan tells Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press (Twitter link) that the club did not consider scenarios for a deal — let alone make Plouffe available to other clubs.
  • The Royals’ many successes have led many to point to their outstanding pen as a model of sorts, and ESPN.com’s Jayoson Stark (Insider link) explains that it has helped drive the idea of relying heavily on a relief corps. But the rise of the importance of the relief pitcher has other, deeper causes, Stark argues.

Central Notes: Molina, Walden, Rosenthal, Mesoraco, Reds, Plouffe

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The Cardinals will increasingly need to consider a long-term replacement for Yadier Molina, to say nothing of preparing for a season in which he’ll be looking to return from two thumb surgeries, as Ben Frederickson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes. Frederickson spoke with two potential future options behind the dish, Michael Ohlman and Carson Kelly. He adds that St. Louis GM John Mozeliak is still looking to add another veteran option to the mix this spring for depth purposes. While the Cards remain confident that Yadi will be ready to go for 2016, he’s still sporting protection for his thumb at present. Of course, the club still seems committed to relying on Molina — along with new backup Brayan Pena — for the bulk of its backstop duties this year.

Here’s more from the game’s central divisions:

  • MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch provides some notable Cardinals pen updates in a reader mailbag post. Reliever Jordan Walden is expected to go through a normal spring ramp-up, though she says there’s still uncertainty in his shoulder. The organization does not appear to have any immediate interest in extension talks with closer Trevor Rosenthal, Langosch adds, though there’s little urgency since he only just reached arbitration.
  • Reds backstop Devin Mesoraco says that he’s feeling well and looking forward to a return after undergoing hip surgery last summer, MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon reports. “I’m good. I’m anxious to get back out on the field here,” Mesoraco said. “It’s been a long haul with rehabbing and working out. Everything is feeling the way that it should, the way that we planned.”
  • There’s no shortage of left field options for the Reds as camp approaches, Sheldon writes, listing Yorman Rodriguez, Adam Duvall, Scott Schebler, Jake Cave, and Kyle Waldrop. “Those are the guys,” said GM Dick Williams. “Some of those guys can play multiple positions. There are guys that can play multiple outfield spots. [Juan] Duran will be in camp, and [Tyler] Holt. [Jesse] Winker, Waldrop and some of the younger guys, too.”
  • The Twins never had serious conversations with third baseman Trevor Plouffe about a long-term deal while negotiating his arb salary this year, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN tweets. Of course, there’s plenty of time to chat this spring if there’s interest, but it’s not clear that Minnesota would or should pursue a lengthy pact with the 29-year-old, who remains under team control for one more year via arbitration.
  • Meanwhile, the Twins are not interested in southpaw reliever Eric O’Flaherty, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports on Twitter. O’Flaherty was said to be showcasing for scouts yesterday, but it seems that Minnesota won’t be one of the clubs taking a closer look.

Central Notes: Fowler, Mesoraco, Tomlin, Twins, Cardinals

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The White Sox and Cubs continue to monitor the market for free agent center fielder Dexter Fowler, writes Bruce Levine of 670thescore.com/CBS Chicago. Both clubs are checking in on Fowler’s market on a daily basis, Levine adds. Levine spoke to one executive from another team that called the Cubs the likeliest landing spot for Fowler, though based on the anonymous quote, that appears to be purely speculative as opposed to any form of definitive knowledge. The report notes that Fowler could settle for a one- or two-year deal (possibly with a player option, in keeping with the offseason’s opt-out trend), although that, too, appears to be fairly speculative in nature. While Levine and the unnamed exec feel that Fowler should have accepted the qualifying offer, it’s easy to make such claims with the benefit of hindsight, and I’d contest that no such claims can be made until the parameters of Fowler’s eventual deal are known. Even if Fowler comes in at a number lesser than the value of the qualifying offer, the upside in testing the market (tens of millions of dollars) significantly outweighed a possible difference of a few million dollars, in my eyes.

More from the game’s Central divisions…

  • Reds catcher Devin Mesoraco tells MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon that his surgically repaired hip is 100 percent, and he’ll be ready to go when pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training. Mesoraco suffered a hip impingement in the first month of a four-year contract extension and was limited to 23 contests last year before undergoing surgery in June. However, the 2014 All-Star says he’s been hitting for “a couple of months” and has also progressed to catching drills, including blocking/receiving pitches, throwing across the diamond. Mesoraco says in terms of work behind the plate he is doing “just about everything with no pain.”
  • Right-hander Josh Tomlin, who signed a two-year deal with the Indians yesterday (including a club option for a third season), spoke to MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian about the decision to sign the contract. “I didn’t really look towards the free-agent part,” said Tomlin, who would’ve hit the open market next winter had he not signed the deal. “I’ve been a Cleveland Indian since 2006. When they approached my agent about that contract, it was something that excited me and it got me looking forward to the season and I appreciated it. It’s something we talked about and we were able to reach an agreement that I was happy with, that they were happy with. I wasn’t really looking toward the future and seeing, ’OK, these guys are getting this much money. I could potentially have that kind of money.’ That never entered into my head. It was, ’Cleveland Indians wanted to give me a shot and I’m all about it.'” GM Mike Chernoff tells Bastian that the plan for 2016 is for Tomlin to pitch in the rotation. Assuming that Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Danny Salazar and Trevor Bauer all remain healthy, that would seem to leave right-hander Cody Anderson, who was solid in his big league debut this past season, without a spot in the starting five. Then again, virtually no team makes it through a season with only five starters, so Anderson and others should have chances to start throughout the year.
  • There were no real discussions of a long-term pact between the Twins and Trevor Plouffe’s representatives at CAA before the two sides agreed to a $7.25MM salary for the 2016 season, per 1500 ESPN’s Darren Wolfson (Twitter link). As it stands, Plouffe will be eligible for free agency following the 2017 campaign. He was an oft-speculated trade candidate earlier this winter due to the emergence of Miguel Sano and the signing of Korean slugger Byung-ho Park, who will push Sano away from the DH spot. Minnesota plans to use Sano in right field for the time being, though Plouffe’s future with the club and Sano’s positioning on the diamond figure to remain connected, as Sano has spent the bulk of his minor league career at third base.
  • Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press spoke to Twins GM Terry Ryan about the steps that the club is taking to make Park’s transition from Korea to the United States as smooth as possible. Minnesota has hired a translator of Park’s choosing and has also been in contact with several Pirates officials about the transition process for Jung Ho Kang in 2015 in an effort to make the process as seamless as possible for their new DH. Ryan notes that the fact that both Kang and Park are represented by Octagon’s Alan Nero also helps, as Nero adds another person familiar with the adjustment process to the fold.
  • The Cardinals aren’t exactly certain of when Yadier Molina will be healthy enough to make his 2016 debut, writes Ben Frederickson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which creates opportunities for internal options like Michael Ohlman and Carson Kelly to make the roster as a backup to offseason signee Brayan Pena. Non-roster invites such as veteran Eric Fryer also could find themselves with a greater opportunity to see some Major League time due to the uncertainty. However, even though Ohlman has only been with the Cardinals organization for a little less than a year, he outlined Molina’s importance to the roster when speaking to Frederickson. “He controls the clubhouse,” said Ohlman. “It’s his team.” Molina underwent thumb surgery back in October and had to undergo a second operation in December after the first one did not fully correct the ligament issue.

Twins, Trevor Plouffe Avoid Arbitration

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The Twins and third baseman Trevor Plouffe have avoided an arbitration hearing by agreeing to a one-year deal worth $7.25MM, reports Jon Heyman (via Twitter). The former first-round pick and CAA Sports client had been projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to take home a $7.7MM salary in 2016 before filing for an $7.95MM sum. The team countered with a $7MM sum, meaning Plouffe’s ultimate salary will come in below the $7.475MM midpoint of those two figures.

Plouffe, 29, has somewhat quietly emerged as a strong contributor at third base over the past two seasons, during which time he’s batted .251/.317/.429 with 36 home runs for the Twins. While his offense performance dropped off between 2014 and 2015 (from a rate-stat perspective, anyhow), Plouffe appeared in a career-high 152 games and tallied a career-high 632 plate appearances in 2015, chipping in 22 homers and 86 RBIs — all of which factored into the $2.45MM raise he’ll receive over last year’s salary of $4.8MM. Formerly a shortstop that had to move off the position for defensive purposes, Plouffe has also turned himself into a solid to above-average defender at the hot corner, where he’s posted positive cumulative marks in Defensive Runs Saved (+5) and Ultimate Zone Rating (+8.4) across the past two seasons.

While many thought the team’s signing of Byung Ho Park would lead to a Plouffe trade by forcing Miguel Sano from DH to third base, the Twins plan to use Sano in the outfield and retain Plouffe at third base. It remains to be seen how the hulking Sano can handle the outfield (though his arm drew rave reviews from scouts), but for the time being, Plouffe figures to continue to serve as a key component of the Twins’ starting lineup in 2016. He’s under control through the 2017 season as a Super Two player, so he’ll be arbitration-eligible once more next offseason before qualifying for free agency. With Plouffe’s case resolved and Kevin Jepsen also signed to a one-year deal over the weekend, the Twins have now avoided arbitration with all six of their eligible players, as can be seen in MLBTR’s Arbitration Tracker.

2016 Arbitration Filing Numbers

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MLBTR’s Arbitration Tracker is the place to go to see the arbitration contracts agreed upon thus far, as well as the figures exchanged between teams and players that were not able to reach agreement before today’s noon deadline to swap salary positions. Matt Swartz’s arbitration projections are available here.

As MLBTR has previously explained, 156 players officially filed for arbitration (after some eligible and tendered players had already reached agreement). Of those, 34 players have yet to reach reported agreements with their clubs. Of course, those players can still reach agreements before their hearings (which will take place between February 1st and 21st). If the case goes to a hearing, the arbitrator must choose one side’s figures, rather than settling on a midpoint.

We’ve gathered the highest-stakes arbitration situations remaining — those where the player files for at least $4.5MM — in this post, but you can find them all in the tracker (with two as-yet-unreported exceptions).

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